House Bill 2588, was a top legislative priority for Rep. Jeannie Darneille, a Tacoma Democratic representative and Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist. Had HB 2588 passed on February 14th, 2012, it would have allowed the collection of DNA from felony suspects upon their arrest rather than at their conviction. But the House Bill did not get enough support after some lawmakers argued it would violate Washington's strong privacy protections.

Supporters say expanding the state's DNA database would have prevented violent crime, stopping serial criminals such as Anthony Casper Dias, who received 227 years for his Tacoma area crimes. Dias was convicted in 2008 of multiple counts of rape, burglary and robbery.

Mark Linquist was confident that the way the bill was written it would pass constitutional scrutiny. Linquist emphasized that there were safeguards for civil liberties in the bill, such as requiring a judge to find probable cause before the DNA would be added to the state DNA database, only using the DNA for identification, and allowing it to be destroyed if a suspect were acquitted.